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Bring History and Culture to Life

Inspire Active Citizenship with Our 6–12 Social Studies Programs

Challenge students to explore the past and present. Our social studies curriculum delivers compelling, interactive experiences that cultivate the critical thinking and analytical skills children need to succeed in college, career, and civic life.

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    Relevant and Engaging

    Immersive media, audio, and visuals provide relevant content to encourage “Aha!” moments in the classroom.

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    Inquiry-Based Learning

    Interactive tools enable students to analyze primary sources like a historian and complete evidence-based writing tasks.

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    Flexible Resources

    Teachers asked, we listened. With Custom Assessments, teachers can create assessments tailored to their students' needs.

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    Differentiated Instruction

    Teachers have numerous differentiated instruction and assessment opportunities to ensure that every student has a clear path to success.

Explore Our Social Studies Programs

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    HMH Social Studies

    Grades 6–12

    Immerse students in history with inquiry-based social studies programs that challenge them to dig into the past and uncover connections to their world.

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    HMH AP & Electives

    Grades 9–12

    Deepen students' understanding of critical concepts and their real-world applications with AP and electives offered through our partnership with Wiley.

It’s important to ensure that students are looking at primary sources from the past, then taking their historical-thinking skills and applying them to information on the web today.

Danielle LeFebvre

7th-Grade Teacher, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, NC

Insights and Resources

Explore the efficacy of our social studies programs through related articles and additional resources.

  • Q&A: Teaching the Holocaust to Middle School and High School Students

    Q&A: Teaching the Holocaust to Middle School and High School Students

    Learn how to teach the Holocaust in schools and overcome the challenges of teaching this subject with these insights and guidelines from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    HMH Staff

  • Infusing Multiple Narratives in History Classrooms: Native American Studies

    Infusing Multiple Narratives in History Classrooms: Native American Studies

    How do we reframe our pedagogy to incorporate multiple narratives within our classrooms? We can start with three building blocks: reading, content integration, and scaffolding of information.

    David J. O’Connor
    American Indian Studies Consultant, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

    Paul ST Rykken
    Lecturer, First Nations Studies Department, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

  • 8 Formative Assessments for Social Studies

    8 Formative Assessments for Social Studies

    Choose the formative assessments for social studies that work best for your classroom to improve student learning.

    Alicia Ivory
    Shaped Editor

  • 7 Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies and Instructional Practices

    7 Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies and Instructional Practices

    Implement these culturally responsive teaching strategies and instruction practices in the classroom to help students feel included, validated, valued, and safe.

    Dr. Tyrone C. Howard
    Professor, UCLA; Senior Fellow, ICLE; HMH Learning Sciences & Research Advisory Board

  • Free History and Social Studies Activities for Middle School

    Free History and Social Studies Activities for Middle School

    Allow your middle schoolers to explore the past with these social studies activities and lessons covering topics ranging from U.S. Supreme Court cases to ancient civilizations.

  • High School History Lesson Plans and Activities

    High School History Lesson Plans and Activities

    Give students a better understanding of our global society with these high school world history and American history lesson plan ideas and activities.

    Shaped Staff

  • Podcast: The Future of Happiness and Education with Tal Ben-Shahar

    Podcast: The Future of Happiness and Education with Tal Ben-Shahar

    Season 2 of the Shaping the Future Podcast kicks off with special guest Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, author of Happier and co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy. Join host Matthew Mugo Fields as he asks about anti-fragility and the elements of happiness.

    Ali Habashi
    Shaped Editor

  • Podcast: How to Encourage Ambition with Shellye Archambeau (Author)

    Podcast: How to Encourage Ambition with Shellye Archambeau (Author)

    Meet Shellye Archambeau, former CEO of MetricStream and author of the book Unapologetically Ambitious. In this episode we learn how to encourage our students to be future leaders.

    Ali Habashi
    Shaped Editor

  • Podcast: Flex on Them Fridays with Perry Hollins

    Podcast: Flex on Them Fridays with Perry Hollins

    Meet Perry Hollins, a fourth grade teacher and former DJ who has spent the past 11 years infusing an African-centered pedagogy into the curriculum. Perry utilizes his education to create a culturally responsive, project-based learning environment for independent, flexible thinkers.

    Ali Habashi
    Shaped Editor

  • Podcast: Preparing Future Voters and the Influence of Educators

    Podcast: Preparing Future Voters and the Influence of Educators

    Listen to a podcast on the objectives of civic education, the role of schools in teaching civics, and how to remain non-partisan while creating informed future voters. Featuring Sylvia Acevedo (CEO, Girl Scouts) and Dr. Emma Humphries (Chief Education Officer, iCivics).

    Onalee Smith
    Shaped Contributor

Inspire students to become engaged citizens.

Inspire students to become engaged citizens.